


Some Things Never Change

by doctorxdonna (badxwolfxrising)



Series: Earth Girls Are So Not Easy [20]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Post-Episode: s04e17-e18 The End of Time, Public Call 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 14:12:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5294228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badxwolfxrising/pseuds/doctorxdonna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was an ordinary day at the Coal Hill School, until Donna Noble shows up for a parent-teacher conference.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Things Never Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [renn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/renn/gifts).



> So I wrote this with Twelve in mind, but there were some parts that felt very Eleven to me. I went back and edited it to be a bit more purposefully vague in some spots, that way you can imagine whichever Doctor (12 or 11) that you want. Rated T for implied smut, however there is no actual sex in the fic. This is a complete standalone fic as of upload/publication, but I left it open ended in case I feel spicy and want to continue it. :)

Clara was sitting at her desk getting her papers in order when a familiar wheezing groan filled the air. A light wind picked up, rustling the precariously piled papers on her desk and causing them to drift. She slapped her hands down on two of the piles to keep them from blowing away, and attempted to use her elbows to pin down the others. The wind died off just as the TARDIS door squeaked open and the Doctor strolled out. With a flourish of his screwdriver, the TARDIS became invisible.

“What have I told you about materializing in the middle of my classroom?” Clara said irritably, sitting back up. “What if there were students in here?”

“Well you wouldn’t answer your mobile, so I came to look for you,” he said, perching on the edge of her desk, his legs crossed at the ankles.

“I didn’t answer my mobile because I have a parent-teacher conference today. I told you this last week. Didn’t you get my reminder text?” she asked.

“Ah well, that’s the thing. I lost my phone after I tried calling you.. It was eaten by a Qyprisk.”

“A what?”.

“A space dragon. A very large space dragon,” he said, holding his arms out wide to illustrate.

“A space dragon. Right,” she said doubtfully.

“I’d show you the pictures I took of it, but it’s on my phone,” he insisted. “My phone which has probably been digested by now. Suppose I was about due for an upgrade anyway…”

“You’re just jeopardy friendly, you are,” Clara said, shuffling her papers back into semi-neat little piles.

“Yes, well that’s why I need your expert educator supervision. So, how about you bunk off from this parent-teacher conference and we can go see the Sex Pistols in concert or something,” he said with just a hint of a smile.

“You know I can’t do that,” she said, shaking her head.

“Oh, come on! You’re a teacher, not an air traffic controller,” he protested.

“Oi! Rude,” she said, swatting his arm. “Any anyway, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t take me too long, you can just wait.”

“Waiting is boring. I don’t do boring,” he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

“Well tough, I’m not leaving. Go read a book or play with the class hamster or something,” she said, just as someone knocked on the classroom door. She gave him a meaningful look. “If you’re going to stay, please don’t be inappropriately weird.”

“When am I ever inappropriately weird?” he asked

Clara just stared at him, silently and intently.

“Right, okay, on second thought, don’t answer that,” he replied, taking a seat at one of the student’s empty desks. He looked comical, squeezed into a space that was meant for a child no older than twelve.

Whoever was outside the classroom knocked a second time, and Clara went to answer the door. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Temple. Won’t you please come in?”

“It’s Noble actually. Ms. Noble. But you can call me Donna,” the other woman said, stepping into the room.

The Doctor fell to the floor with a clatter, taking the desk with him.

“Uh, is he okay?” Donna said uncertainly.

“Yeah, sorry, he’s just extremely clumsy,” Clara said, turning to stare daggers at the Doctor. She mouthed silently, “ _What the hell is wrong with you?_ ”

“Sorry, sorry,” the Doctor said, getting to his feet. He picked the desk up off the floor and sat it back in place. “I’m the Doc-er, John Smith. Just John Smith.”

“Do I know you from somewhere?” Donna asked, a puzzled expression on her face. “You seem so familiar.”

“No, I don’t think so. Must have me mistaken for someone else. I’m quite certain I’d remember having met you,” he said quietly.

His abrupt change in demeanor didn’t go unnoticed by Clara, but it was the wrong time and place for her to ask him what was the matter. “Don’t mind John. He’s just my...student teacher.”

“You’re a student teacher?” Donna repeated, looking at him doubtfully. “You look more like a professor.”

“Well you know what they say. Never judge a book by its cover. And anyway, _you_ don’t look old enough to have a twelve year old,” the Doctor retorted.

“That’s because I don’t. Kira’s actually my niece. My husband and I took her in last year after her parents were both killed in a car accident,” Donna replied stiffly.

“Sorry, I had no idea,” the Doctor floundered. “I guess it’s a good thing she has yout two then.”

“It’s just me now. But I manage,” she answered cryptically.

“What about your husband?” he asked, ignoring the dirty looks Clara was giving him.

“He’s gone,” Donna said flatly.

“Gone? Gone where?” the Doctor pried.

“He’s just gone,” she answered, her tone indicating the conversation was closed.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Clara cleared her throat. “Perhaps we could start the conference? I’m sure Ms. Noble has things to do, places to be.”

“Right, sorry,” the Doctor said, making a show of sitting down on the window ledge. He angled his body towards the two women, an unreadable expression on his face.

“So how is Kira doing, anyway?” Donna asked, taking a seat across from Clara.

“Kira’s doing well, she has some of the highest marks in the class. But not high enough. She’s more intelligent than she lets on, but I think she holds back because she’s afraid of being labeled a teacher’s pet or a nerd,” Clara answered. “She doesn’t really get along with the other students. I think she wants friends, but doesn’t know how to make them.”

“She’s always been like that. Too smart for her own good sometimes,” Donna admitted, shaking her head. “She’s so cynical though for a twelve year old. Suppose what happened to her parents didn’t help, and then there was...oh, nevermind. She’s afraid to get too attached to anyone because people keep leaving her.”

“How do you mean? Did she lose someone else besides her parents?” the Doctor interjected.

“Isn’t that enough for a child to lose?” Donna snapped back irritably. The tone of her voice hinted there was something else going on there, something left unsaid.

“Alright, maybe we should just keep this strictly academic,” Clara suggested desperately, still unsure when she had lost the upper hand and why the Doctor was so seemingly fascinated with a student’s guardian.

“Of course, sorry, shutting up now,” he said sheepishly.

The rest of the conference passed without further incident, although Clara couldn’t help but notice how fidgety and anxious the Doctor was behaving the entire time. He had denied knowing Ms. Noble, but his actions suggested otherwise. He was definitely being inappropriately weird, even for himself.

She let Ms. Noble go with a list of books she thought might interest and challenge Kira, and a promise to call if it seemed like the girl was continuing to struggle. The other woman thanked her for her time, and waved to the Doctor before leaving. She waited until the door had shut behind Ms. Noble before she rounded on the Doctor.

“Okay that? That was inappropriately weird! What’s wrong with you?” Clara demanded.

The Doctor shook his head, and made a beeline for the door. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go after her. I’ve got to make sure she’s okay.”

“You don’t even know her!” Clara huffed.

“No,” the Doctor said, shaking his head ruefully. “It’s she who doesn’t know me. Not anymore.”

“So you do know her?”

The Doctor just nodded mutely.

“Well who is she then?” 

“The most important woman in the universe,” he answered, slipping out the door before Clara even had a chance to reply.

* * * * 

He caught up with her out in the car park.

“Donna, wait!”

She turned around to look at him “Oh. Hey Professor. You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. The question is though-are you?”

Donna tilted her head and gave him an appraising look.. “I’m always alright.”

The Doctor’s breath caught in his throat. His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. When he finally found his voice again, it was to ask a question. “Are you a widow?”

“Jesus mate, you’re just a little socially awkward,” she observed. “What’s it to you?”

“Well I wanted to know if I could take you out for a drink?” he asked, shifting anxiously on his feet.

She raised her eyebrows. “Why?”

“Can’t a man just want to take a pretty woman out for a drink?”

“I think we’re both old enough to know that it’s never that simple,” she said wryly.

“Now who’s the cynical one?”

“Touché.”

After a moment’s silence, the Doctor cleared his throat. “So is that a yes then?”

“I suppose. But I buy my own drinks. I don’t need a man to do that for me.”

The Doctor was secretly relieved because he didn’t actually have any money. Some things never change.

* * * * *

In the end, neither of them had to pay for the drinks. Within the first few minutes of sitting down, the Doctor had cured another bar goer’s hiccups by asking him his last name, and the bloke had been so impressed by the trick that he’d bought them several rounds. Donna had had three Cosmopolitans in the time it took the Doctor to nurse two fingers of scotch, and it had loosened her lips, just as he had known it would. Nothing too personal yet, just small talk, but he knew he’d get there eventually. He felt incredibly guilty for manipulating her in this way, but not guilty enough to not do it. It felt so good to sit in the light cast by Donna Noble again.

Some things never change.

He tried asking again. “So where’s your husband?”

“We separated six months ago,” she admitted, tossing back the rest of her drink.

“What happened?”

“The usual. We just drifted apart. He wasn’t the man I fell in love with any more. And he wasn’t a good father figure for Kira, not towards the end.”

“So what changed?”

“When we got married, someone gave us a winning lottery ticket as a gift. We didn’t know it was a winner of course, not right then. Hell, I almost binned the damn thing. But it was a jackpot winner, 50 million quid. Changed our lives,” she said, managing to sound both sober and intoxicated. 

But it changed him, too. Changed him for the worse. He grew up so poor, finally having all that money, all the power that comes with it, it just went to his head, I think. And then his sister and her husband were killed in that accident, and we became Kira’s guardians, and it was harder than either of us ever could’ve anticipated. He became greedy, miserly, selfish. He withdrew from me, and from Kira, and then we started fighting.. Eventually he realized that he had enough money to attract someone better than me. Well, not better. She’s a total slag, and a stupid one, at that. But she’s prettier. Thinner. Younger.”

“He didn’t deserve you anyway,” the Doctor said, slamming his glass down on the bar. Liquid sloshed out of the glass and onto the bar. The bartender gave him a disapproving look, which he ignored.

“Whoa, easy there,” Donna said, laying a hand gently on his arm. “You’re lucky you didn’t shatter that glass and slice up your hand. He’s not worth getting upset over, believe me. I’ve moved on.”

“It just makes me angry. Because you’re brilliant, and any man, any person who can’t see that is a twat!” he declared.

“Thanks, I think, but you barely know me,” she pointed out.

“Maybe not. But you remind me of an old friend, and she was, she is brilliant,” he said, spinning his empty glass.

“So what happened to your friend?” she asked, propping her chin up with her hands.

The Doctor stared down at the bar top. “There was an accident, my fault. She lost her memories as a result, and she forgot me. She lived, but she has no memory of me, no memory of any of the things we ever did together.”

“Sounds like she was more than just a friend,” Donna offered.

“I wish,” the Doctor replied, swallowing the last of his scotch with a grimace. “But it was never like that with us. Not that I didn’t want it to be.”

“Why not? You obviously cared about her. Or at least it sounds like you did,” she said. “Why can’t you still be her friend?”

“Because I’m a coward,” he said, sounding tired.

Donna raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. She flagged down the bartender, and ordered them another round instead.

“What a motley pair we make,” she finally said. “The lonely hearts club.”

“I’m tired of being lonely.”

“Yeah. So am I.”

* * * * *

He hadn’t intended on sleeping with her. 

But there were a lot of things he’d never intended to do, a lot of places he’d never intended to go, and still he ended up doing those things, ending up in those places. Some of them were wonderful, some of them were terrible, some of them he ended up regretting, and some of them he wouldn’t change for the world. Some things never change. 

But some things do.

They had sat, drinking and talking, until the bartender finally kicked them out so he could close for the night. He offered to walk her home, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do, and because he wasn’t quite ready to let her go again. He knew he was likely playing with fire, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to care.

“You know, I lost two years of my memory. Just woke up one day and it was gone. Doctors were never able to explain it,” she said as they walked.

The Doctor swallowed, hard. “So what did you do?”

“Kept on living, what else? Didn’t have much of a choice. I got a new job, I met Shaun, got married. I wonder sometimes, about those missing moments. If I’ll ever get them back. But after Shaun left, I made a vow to myself. That I would make enough good moments to make up for the ones I lost,” she answered.

“And how is that working out for you?” he asked.

“That depends.”

“On?”

“On whether or not you’d like to come home with me,” she said coyly.

“What about Kira?”

“She’s sleeping over a friend’s. We’d have the house to ourselves.”

He considered this. “I really, really shouldn’t. But I will.”

Donna smirked, and took his hand. “Good.”

* * * * *

They were both half naked and struggling to get out of their clothes when she blurted out, “Are you clean?”

The Doctor considered this. “Well, I took a shower tomorrow morning, does that count?”

“No, you walnut, are you _clean_? Do you have the clap or anything nasty like that?” she said, exasperated. “Because I’m on the pill and I’m clean, so if you’re clean too I don’t need to go digging for a condom.”

“Sorry, did you just call me a _walnut_?” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“Trust a bloke to be caught up on the walnut thing!”

“Of course I don’t have the clap. Do you have the clap?”

“Do you think I’d bother asking you if I did?”

“Gonorrhea is nothing to clap about, Donna.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that, Professor Mood Killer.”

“Sorry.”

“Persuade me to forgive you.”

“How do I do that?”

“Use your imagination. Or maybe your tongue.”

* * * * *

He waited until she was asleep to get dressed. He thought about just creeping out, but imagining the look of betrayal on her face when she woke up and found him gone prevented him from doing so. After fumbling through his pockets for several minutes, he found a stack of sticky notes and a ball point pen. He scrawled a quick note, and stuck it to her alarm clock before slinking out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

On the way back to the TARDIS he did a little quick work with the sonic on a cash machine and used the money to buy a new mobile phone. He half expected Clara to be waiting when he got back, but the console room was empty. He took the phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen uncertainly. Finally, his fingers swiped across the screen, and he composed his message: _I miss you already_. He hit send, and waited.


End file.
